Waiting for visa, man dies outside Pakistani consulate

JALALABAD (Pajhwok): An elderly man died in front of the Pakistani Consulate in this capital city of eastern Nangarhar province while waiting to get visa amid massive rush, the deceased’s family said on Thursday.

Earlier, reports had surfaced about deaths, injuries, falling unconscious of visa applicants at the Pakistani mission in Jalalabad, the death of Azizullah Khan on Wednesday was a latest incident of the kind.

Hailing from Kama district of Nangarhar province, the 60-year-old Khan reached Jalalabad on Wednesday along with his wife to get visa and go to Pakistan for treatment.

He was buried at his village late Wednesday and hundreds of people participated in his funeral prayer.

His son, Subhanullah, told Pajhwok Afghan News that his father was a heart patient and wanted to go to Pakistan for treatment but he lost his life outside the consulate waiting to get visa.

Local residents lashed out at the provincial government, saying the process of getting Pakistani visa had gone more problematic.

Pajhwok received a video clip which shows policeman torturing a visa applicant, put him in police vehicle, hitting him with sticks.

Haji Gul Mohammad, who arrived at the Consulate General go get his daughter’s passport, said police hit him with a wood stick and injured his fingers.

The visa applicants alleged irregularties at the Pakistani mission and said individuals who had connections inside could easily get their visa.

Pajhwok received an audio clip in which an individual is heard asking a visa applicant for 25,000 rupees to get him visa and later the same person talks to a staff-member of the consulate.

Governor’s spokesman Attaullah Khogyani said more than 40 people had been arrested over alleged corruption, but the issue could not be resolved as a result of the growing number of visa applicants.

He stressed the issue should be resolved by the central government.

An estimated 4,000 people apply for visa at the Pakistani mission on a daily basis.

Earlier, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Afghanistan Zahid Nasrullah Khan had said his country was working on a plan to provide more facilities to Afghan citizens in visa issuance.

Khan had added separate places of visa applicants would be built in Kabul and Jalalabad to them people get visa easily.

The envoy added the one month stay duration would be extended to two months according to the future plan.